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Improving Ministry Video With A Tripod

In the technical arts it's never just about audio, it's about everything, and one of the secrets to creating great video is the proper use of a tripod.
This article is provided by ChurchTechArts.

Have you ever had this experience?

Someone hands you a tape that was shot on a missions trip, or student event, or other ministry outing.

You are requested to go through said tape and “make a video.” This happened to me some time ago. It was a student missions trip to New York City.

Since it was student ministries, we sent them off with a small, Digital-8 camcorder. As I scanned through the 2 hours of footage, looking for a shot (yup, a shot), I thought about the need for a tripod.

You see, all the footage was shot with the camera moving. It never stopped. Just watching it gave me vertigo. Out of 2 hours, I found less than 3 minutes of usable footage.

Now, this is not to pick on our intrepid camera man here, but let’s talk about how to avoid this.

Here’s the deal—watch some TV, or a few films and here’s what you’ll find (save the “reality shows”):

You’ll find well composed, static shots. Most of the time, the camera doesn’t move and if it does, it’s on a tripod, SteadiCam, dolly or crane. If and when it does move, it moves slowly and smoothly. Doing this takes practice and good equipment.

I previously wrote an article called, Being Excellent With Less.

In that article I suggested that if we don’t have the personnel or equipment to do a certain task, we should scale the task back to the point where we can achieve excellence.

Don’t have a $50,000 Chapman crane for your camera? Then put it on a tripod and work with what you have.

Don’t have a tripod? Get creative—the most usable footage we got from the students was when the camera was set on a table and the students shared their experiences.

If you don’t have a tripod, you really should get one. They’re not that expensive in the grand scheme of things, and I would suggest it will make the second biggest improvement in your videos (microphones are #1).

For a few hundred dollars you can pick up a tripod that will deliver excellent results with smaller DV and HDV cameras. Check out some of the lower-cost offerings from Manfrotto.

They’re not nearly as good as my favorite Vintens, but they’re a whole lot better than trying to handhold your shots.

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dBTechnologies is an Italian-based speaker manufacturer, leading in the Touring & Live sound market by providing innovative audio solutions. Their flagship ViO series is made up of an entirely active/self-powered series of loudspeakers. The dBT lineup also includes passive loudspeakers, software, and amplifiers, all delivering uncompromising performance. dBTechnologies speakers headline some of the largest festivals and concerts worldwide, setting standards in both Live and Installation markets.